Author Archive
WARNING! Only Offering Sellers CASH for Their Property May Be Detrimental to Your Financial Future!
Posted on January 4, 2014 byA few weeks ago I attended a weekend training put on by, who I believe is the most creative and knowledgeable real estate investor and teacher in this country. The training was put on by Peter Fortunato. Peter spent two days with his class explaining how dozens and dozens of deals he had helped structure without the need for institutional financing or credit. It truly amazed me how he never completed any of the deals he spoke about in the same way twice. Each and every one of the deals was structured in a way to achieve a specific objective. In other words, each deal was structured to come up with exactly what his or the seller’s goal was at that time.
Some deals were designed to minimize taxes, some were designed to maximize cash-flow, while others were designed to overcome some type of problem the sellers were facing and thought they had no solution to their problem until they talked to Peter. Peter, who is considered the master of “Doing Things on Purpose” would create deal structures that solved the problem at hand. His work has amazed me for years and when I take one of his classes I become even more amazed how anyone could create the deal structures he does. Read More→
It’s Time for a New Year and a New Plan!
Posted on December 6, 2013 byHere it is almost the end of another year and it’s time to ask yourself again, was this a prosperous year for you or not? If you feel that you haven’t had as prosperous of a year as you might have wished for you may want to ask yourself what you could possibly do differently next year to achieve your financial goals.
What are you thinking might be your problem or don’t you think about it? Did too much life get in the way, or were you too busy to make offers? You didn’t make offers because you couldn’t find any good deals, or you couldn’t find the money you needed to complete but a few transactions, if any? Did you have too much competition in your area, or were the prices simply too high and good deals evaded you because other investors got to the good deals before you and scooped up those good deals? Whatever your reason don’t you think it’s time to come up with a new plan that will allow you to capture some of those good deals others are so proud of?
In just a few weeks it will be time to make another New Year’s Resolution so if this hasn’t been what you had imagined as your most prosperous year, I thought this would be the perfect time to think about making some changes in your real estate business. One thing I can tell you for sure, there are good deals everywhere you look. There are plenty of good deals if you know what to look for and understand how to profit from the deals you find. So let me ask you, what does a good deal look like? Could it be a good deal simply because of the price you have to pay for the property? Could it be a good deal because of the payment amount you can negotiate with the sellers that will allow you to cash flow the property? Could it be a good deal because of the neighborhood the property is located in? All of these can be good reasons why you might have a good deal. It’s a good idea to know why any deal you do is a good deal in your eyes. Read More→
Do You Have a Burning Desire to Buy One Hundred Houses per Year? If You Do, Be Sure You Are Prepared!
Posted on November 6, 2013 byRecently I was talking to several of my students who each said they wanted to buy 100 houses next year. These students had listened to one of the gurus who had bought and sold over one hundred houses in one year and is now teaching people how to duplicate what he had done. I listened closely to these bright eyed, inexperienced students tell me they wanted to do the same as the guru, which frightened me to death. Later over dinner, I mentioned what I had just heard to my wife. She encouraged me to tell my tale of woe about the years of agony we experienced because I got too big for my britches and against my wife’s better judgment I had tried to do the same thing myself.
What the students were thinking about doing frightened me because several years before I thought I knew enough about buying and selling houses that I could easily buy 100 houses in a year. I thought it was a noble goal and I clearly believed I could create my fortune in months, not years. At the time the market was right to be able to buy houses at the rate of 100 houses per year. That is why I want to tell my story so every overzealous beginning investor will think before they set about to try to do the same. Read More→
Make Sure Your Rental Property Always Has a Cash Flow Using the Correct Formula Before You Buy!
Posted on October 9, 2013 byI spent the last weekend attending a training event put on by one of the premier real estate teachers in the country today. As I listened to her teach phenomenal content, I kept hearing her talk about the MAO formula to determine the most that anyone should pay for any property. The basic MAO formula is… “The After Repaired Value of the subject property X 70% less Repair Costs = the most you should pay for any property” when using institutional or private financing.
As she talked, I kept thinking to myself, what if the buyer can’t qualify for institutional financing? What if private financing isn’t possible either? What if the buyer doesn’t have someone lined up who can get institutional or private financing? If that is the case what good is the MAO formula to the buyer?
Sure, I know the buyer could use a Hard Money loan to fund their deals and there is a formula for getting a Hard Money loan too. The basic Hard Money formula used in my area is… “The After Repaired Value of the subject property X 65% less the Lenders points and fees = the most that can be borrowed on that property”. The biggest problem I see using Hard Money loans is if the borrower can’t get the property they are buying resold quickly. Most hard money loans are short term, usually one to two years in length and if the property hasn’t sold and the Hard Money loan becomes due and payable, the borrower may find it impossible to find other financing to replace the Hard Money loan and could lose the property. Read More→
Always Do A Little Thinking Before Making Every Offer
Posted on September 6, 2013 byIf I could wave a magic wand and re-live my early real estate investing career from the beginning, I think I would first try to learn more about what seller’s needs and thoughts are. I would also want to better understand the thoughts and logic that run through a seller’s mind when they are motivated and want to sell their house.
If I had a better idea of what the sellers wanted it will be much easier to make offers the seller might be happy with and hopefully get them to sell me their house at a price and terms I’ll be happy with, and they will get what they want and also be happy with. If I had only known what I know now it would have been far more profitable for me and my family.
I shudder to think of all of the lost deals I have had simply because I never stopped to think about what the seller’s needs were? My thoughts were usually about how I could make a killer deal for myself. This was not the best nor the most profitable way to make money buying real estate. You need to take a minute, step back and analyze what the seller’s wants or needs are, (or at the very least use a little logic to try to think about what the seller might want or need before making them an offer) if not, you are making a big mistake. If you think about what the sellers needs are you will have a distinct advantage while actually sitting face-to-face with them and are negotiating. If you will do this, at least you would have a direction to start going in.
As you talk with the seller and start to ask them the important questions you will start to better understand what is motivating them to sell. If you don’t ask the important questions you’ll never get the answers you need to put together a profitable deal – a deal which is good for both you and the seller. Let me explain… Read More→
If You Want to Be a Successful Investor Always Do Everything On Purpose
Posted on August 6, 2013 byHello fellow investors,
I hope you enjoyed the 4th of July last month and took a moment to think about the fact that this country has fought many wars to give each one of us independence and the ability to create and do business as we wish with unlimited income potential. In this country our income is only limited to our vision and our determination to succeed at what we choose.
As the year goes on I am getting reports that many of my students are doing deals and starting to make some serious money, and I’m not talking about doing short sales or wholesale deals exclusively. One of my students found a seller who has 80 free and clear houses they want to sell and are willing to do seller financing terms. My student is cherry-picking the deals she wants and is finally deciding that sending letters is a good thing not a laborious waste of time. Three of my other students who are working together have bought 40 properties since the first of the year all with seller financing terms and many with zero percent interest rates and monthly payments as little as $200. I had lunch with another student from Missouri yesterday who has four properties ready to close in less than a month and one of the properties doesn’t have a monthly payment due for 12 full months and zero interest. All of these deals my students are doing are coming from their letter campaign sending letters to “Non-Owner Occupied – FREE & CLEAR” Property Owners. Read More→
Summertime is a Great Time to Buy Houses
Posted on July 5, 2013 byHello fellow investors,
Now that summer is officially upon us it’s time to do some serious thinking how to maximize our profits over the next several months in the most effective ways. A few years ago I noticed another investor I knew who became very intensively busy starting in late March and early April. One day while we were having lunch I asked him why he did most of his deals in the summer months. He gave me a very well thought out and profitable explanation of his strategy, why he used it and how profitable, if done right, his strategy could be.
With so many schools continually receiving poorer evaluations, for many parents sending their children to good schools is becoming more and more important in today’s world. My friend explained that as the school year draws to a close and summer is quickly approaching that many parents start to look for areas with the best school accreditations to send their children and find a house to rent or buy. Once he explained what he was doing I started looking for three and four bedroom houses in the best school districts where I could buy houses affordably I could fix and rent or fix and sell to these families. I started looked for houses in those area’s that needed some cosmetic work done to them that I could buy at an affordable price or with terms that would allow me to make a monthly profit no matter what I did with the houses, rent or sell. Read More→
WARNING: To Anyone Who Owns Real Estate
Posted on June 10, 2013 byWARNING: If You Own Any Properties In Your Own Name Statistics Show You Have A Huge Target On Your Back And A Damaging Lawsuit Is Just Around The Corner If You Don’t Do Something FAST To Prevent This From Happening To You!
Let me share some very important facts that unless you do something FAST could cost you everything you’ve worked hard for. Statistics show…
Fact: Every year at least 7,000,000 (seven million) Slip-and-Fall Civil lawsuits are filed throughout this country costing millions of dollars. That means that at the very least 14,000,000 (fourteen million) people and their families will be party to those lawsuits that 85% to 95% are settled out of court. Most of these are nuisance suits generated just to get money.
I don’t want you to be the next victim? Why would you want to needlessly expose your real estate assets when you don’t need to jeopardize your financial future? Forget about time, stress and anxiety you and your family will experience just because you are named in a lawsuit. Even if you aren’t guilty of doing anything wrong it can ruin your life. When you are sued it costs you time, personal grief and attorney’s fees, and possibly thousands of dollars regardless of the outcome of the case. This doesn’t sound like a good formula for accumulating wealth to me wasting money defending you from those unscrupulous people and their contingency fee lawyers. Read More→
15 Type of House to Avoid
Posted on May 6, 2013 byOver the past 30 plus years I have learned that there are some different types of houses I shouldn’t have bought. Each of these types of houses gave me a financial seminar I didn’t really want to take but because of my inexperience at the time I made mistakes I don’t want you to have to make. Here are some of the different types of houses you should definitely avoid until you have some experience under your belt.
1. Houses located on a Busy Street.
Houses located on a busy street will definitely be hard to rent or sell simply because very few people want to have to listen to the noise of traffic day and night and have to back out into traffic every time they want to go anywhere. Another problem with houses located on a busy street is the danger of their children going into the street and being hit by a fast moving car. Houses on busy streets are not anything I want to invest money into that will definitely be hard to sell and set on the market for weeks or even months before they sell eating up my profits in holding costs.
2. Houses with small front yards.
Houses with small front yards are like houses on busy streets they place the house too close to traffic and noise will be a problem for anyone who lives there. Another problem with houses with small front yards is there isn’t room enough to have landscaping to enhance the looks of the property. Most homebuyers want a front yard to distance themselves from the street and the traffic and have a place to landscape and a place for their children to play. Read More→
Why Would Anyone Give Seller Financing Terms?
Posted on April 5, 2013 byI thought this might be a good time to explain why a seller will be better off selling their property they have never personally lived in if they were to give the investor/buyer seller financing terms instead of the seller getting all cash for their property. When you are negotiating with a seller who thinks they want all of their money at closing you know isn’t thinking very clearly and it is your obligation to inform them why your seller financing offer will always be better for them than if they were to get all cash at closing.
Let’s think about why I said the seller will always be better off taking your terms deal rather than getting all cash for their property, especially if they are planning to use the money as part of, or most of their retirement plan. Most people want their retirement income to last as long as possible. The key words in this example are a property they have never lived in they are selling. Let me do a simple example of the difference of a seller getting all cash at closing, and giving seller financing terms to their buyer. For this example I want to use simple math to show you how to negotiate with a seller who is stuck on getting all cash when your seller financing offer will be better for them. Read More→
How to Quickly Get 10 to 15 Good Rental Properties Paid For Free and Clear
Posted on March 11, 2013 byWe are already in the second month of 2013 and I just had a conversation with one of my students who wanted to know how to create wealth in the shortest possible period of time. The following is my idea how wealth for any real estate investor can be created in the shortest period of time.
Here is an example of how you can quickly achieve financial freedom and then wealth investing in real estate.
For instance, the first thing you need to do is buy 10 to 15 well selected income producing properties you are willing to keep long term as your retirement program and the base of your future wealth. I personally love the thought of someone else having to go to work every day to earn money they give me in the form of rent each month that pays for my properties without me having to have a job or have to go to work every day. Then once you have bought your 10 to 15 keeper rental houses in good neighborhoods, with tenants who are paying on time, every month, let’s say, $1,000 each month of which $520 goes for the monthly loan payment, and after monthly expenses of property taxes, property insurance, a maintenance fund and a vacancy fund leaves you from the $1,000 gross rent approximately $150 each month to put into your pocket. Let’s say for each of your keeper rental properties you paid $88,000 with very little money down and were able to get seller financing terms for 30 years. Read More→
Do Most Real Estate Investors Really Know What a Good Deal Is?
Posted on February 9, 2013 byIt amazes me how so many so called real estate investors who have been in the business for less than five years think they know enough about investing in profitable properties to be able to create a fortune. Think about this for a minute, if you have been an investor for 5 years or less the majority of your investing knowledge is based on trying to buy pretty houses, pay cash for them, or get institutional financing to fund your deals and at the same time believe you will eventually become wealthy using the plan you are currently using. If you got into the business when money was easy to get, your perception of what is a good deal is probably is not an accurate assumption.
Another important mistake beginning investors make is using dollars per square foot to determine the value of any property is not a prudent way to give you what any property is worth. Another reason I say investors who have been in the business less than 5 years is, almost everyone I meet who is trying to become a successful real estate investor think the only good deals are short-sale deals. In my opinion, this is failed, but constantly used way to buy property beginning investors use. Why you may be asking is investing in short-sale properties a failed plan? Here is some facts most potential short-sale investors don’t think about. First, if the investor needs fast money, short sales probably won’t be the answer to your needs. Most short-sale deals take months to close. Many take six to nine months to get through the short sale process.
Other newer investors want to be Wholesale investors. Being a wholesaler is not being an investor, believe it or not, you have a job you must continually repeat if you want to survive in the business. Let me ask you a question. If you had $100,000 or could borrow $100,000 and could buy a property worth $150,000, how many of you think this would be a good deal? I personally think that deal would stink and here is why. If I had $100,000, why would I put it all in one deal when I could divide that money into $5,000 increments and control twenty properties worth $150,000 if done correctly? Read More→
Larry Harbolt’s Investor Workshop on Feb 16, 2013
Posted on February 2, 2013 byOcean Palms Hotel, 5005 34th St. North, St Petersburg, Florida 33714
Registration Information: You can pay at the door by credit card, cash or check or register download the registration form below and either email it back to larryharbolt@gmail.com or fax it back to 727-367-5349.
Hello investor friends,
Happy New Year and a prosperous 2013 to everyone! I want to let you know that I am doing a special one day class on strategy and deal structuring for the investor who is struggling to make money in this current real estate market. This class will help you see and find the missing pieces of the real estate puzzle you’ve been looking for to make your investing business thrive.
I will show you how to quickly determine which the good deals are, and which are the not-so-good deals. This class will take you to different levels of deal structuring and strategy you’ve never seen or thought of before. You will learn how successful investors in today’s market think through every deal they do and how they structure multiple ways to buy any property. I will also show you why “CASH” isn’t always the best solution for every seller, and why.
Here is some of what you will learn during the class… Read More→
Different Things You Can Use to Buy Real Estate Other Than Cash
Posted on January 6, 2013 byThis month I want to give you an example of different ways any investor can use notes to buy houses instead of using CASH. Once upon a time I knew an investor who was trying to structure a deal with a seller who wanted the money from the sale of his property to buy a motor-home so he and his wife could travel the country. The investor asked the seller if he was able to find a motor-home of the sellers liking, would the seller use the book value of the motor-home in exchange for the down payment on the property the investor was trying to buy from the seller. This was regardless of what the investor had to pay for the motor home he would be trading to the seller for his property. The seller told the investor exactly what he wanted a motor-home to have, that he would accept. Once the investor knew what the sellers wanted, he then immediately set out to find a motor-home he could use as catalyst to complete the transaction to buy the sellers house. Read More→
If You Think Education is Expensive, Try Ignorance
Posted on December 9, 2012 by“If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.” ~ Derek Bok
When I started over 30 years ago, like many of you I didn’t have any extra money to pay a mentor or buy an investing course. I decided I would learn the real estate investing business by just doing it. I thought I could shorten my learning curve by going to real estate meetings. I went to a popular real estate meeting in my area for several months. Then I got the bright idea that if going to one meeting was a good idea it would have to be better to go to more meetings. So I decided I would go to four meetings in my area every week. I thought that the real estate meetings I went to were where the seasoned investors with all the knowledge of how the business worked went and if I could meet them I could pick their brains and learn the secrets of investing that would catapult me to success.
After a few months of what seemed to be endless meetings I realized that going to meetings was not giving me what I wanted. I wasn’t getting the details, the investor’s secrets I needed to be able to buy real estate profitably. I saw other investors who were constantly doing profitable deals but none of them would give me their secrets or the details I needed to be able to do the same. At the time I thought I was saving money by trying to learn the business the inexpensive way but I was just fooling myself because after all of the months of attending those meetings I still didn’t have the information to be able to generate the money I needed. I found out it wasn’t the inexpensive way to learn at all; it was the extremely expensive way to learn the business. I continued to learn the real estate investing business without spending any money for training until one day I decided it was time I needed to make a change. I decided I would take a quality training. The key word in that sentence is “Quality” training. Read More→
The Thinking Process’s of a Successful Investor and a Motivated Seller
Posted on November 3, 2012 byThinking Like A Successful Investor
An investor of real estate understands that general knowledge is not what it takes to create wealth. If general knowledge was what it took to create wealth, college professors would be the wealthiest people in this country and we all know that is not the case. Successful real estate investors know that it takes specific knowledge to create wealth. That is why real estate investors buy hard assets, (such as the seller’s house) at a price or with terms conducive to making a profit. If an investor can’t make a profit, they usually have no reason to buy a property unless they plan to live in the house. An investor who is a true capitalist knows they must always offer a seller something the seller likes and values more than what they are giving up or a deal will never happen.
Most sellers are looking for a large sum of cash, a monthly income stream, debt relief or any of a myriad of ways to receive that thing the seller likes more than what they are giving up.
Now that we have established this fact, as an investor it is your job to figure out what you can offer the seller that will be liked enough that the seller is willing to exchange their house for whatever you offered them. If both parties aren’t happy with the deal, it will never happen. Read More→
Never Eat Your Seed Corn
Posted on October 3, 2012 byWhen I started investing in real estate 30 some years ago it never dawned on me that there was a strategy to become wealthy. I thought all you had to do was buy houses, fix them up and resell them, make money then repeat the process. It sounded like a good plan but it was a flawed plan because the money I made from the deals I did went to feed my family first, then what was left went to rehab the next property. I had no plan to accumulate wealth. I had no plan for the future; all I had was a plan to create a job for myself I had to go to work every day to support my family.
One day I was whining to my father that I wasn’t really making any headway putting any significant amount of money into my savings account. It seemed like I was just spinning my wheels and I wasn’t really getting ahead. I was working hard everyday and I had money to feed my family but that was about it. I could have done exactly the same thing working for someone else with a lot less stress in my life. My father who was a brilliant man told me a story about a poor boy that lived during the great depression and for those of you getting started investing in real estate today I think this story is very important to help you understand how to create wealth instead of just make a living. It is called…. Read More→
The 5 Most Common Reasons Why Real Estate Investors Fail Today
Posted on September 10, 2012 byToday I am seeing all too many investors making mistakes that are costing them thousands of dollars of profit every year simply because they lack focus. Any truly successful investor will tell you that you must focus on what you are doing and become the very best at what you have chosen. Having been an investor for over thirty years, I learned there are five common reasons why many investors fail to make more money, especially in today’s market of properties with mortgage balances higher than what the properties are worth and thousands more properties in the foreclosure process.
Believe it or not, there are many more properties that are not over-leveraged and have a possibility of being bought at a fair price without wondering if a Bank will take your low-ball ALL CASH offer. To be able to better understand what the problems most investors face I want to talk about what I believe are the five most common mistakes most investors make. Read More→
98% of ALL Real Estate Investors Will Be Denied Bank Financing This Year
Posted on August 6, 2012 byFact: Getting Bank financing this year or any year in the near future for real estate investors is no longer a reality. If you haven’t noticed the real estate investing business has had a major make-over, and in my opinion not for the better. What this means for the real estate investor is, affordable financing to buy houses just isn’t going to be in the cards for them. Some of you may think you can actually get a loan from a bank or you think it will be easy for you to find a private lender with lots of money who will fund your deals, all I can say is Good Luck. Many of you are still making offers to buy houses contingent on getting some type of financing when this could prove to be impossibility? The worst thing I see everywhere I go are investors believing they will be able to make their deals work and get the money they need to complete their transactions when I know for most it isn’t going to happen. All too many investors are finding it impossible to get affordable financing today. So let me ask you, how do those of you who depend on getting some type of financing plan to pay for the properties if you can’t get the money? Unless you can figure a way to pay for the deals you find you will slowly go broke. This isn’t a pleasant thought is it?
Many of the leading economists I follow are saying that the economy we are currently in won’t completely recover until 2023. If this is truly the case I see a ten year window of opportunity unlike any we have ever seen before if the investor is willing to learn how to make a slight adjustment in the way they are doing their deals.
Here’s what I see as another major problem for investors today… for the investors who have less than good credit and don’t have access to money having to use Hard-Money loans or some type of a bridge loan to finance their deals. This is a wonderful plan provided each deal can endure the costs of these types of loans and still give the investor the profit they need. For most investors using these types of loans may be unavailable or just too costly.
Are you losing sleep at night worrying about how you will be able to pay your bills every month? Are you worried that you might lose everything you’ve worked so hard to acquire from years of hard work?
Have you heard the stories about other investors going broke simply because they are unable to close on the properties they are buying just because they don’t have access to the funds they need? It’s a simple fact there are hundreds of thousands of real estate investor across the country this year that won’t be in the business next year! Are you going to be one of them? Read More→
Have you noticed a declining number of people attending real estate meetings lately? Because I’ve run a weekly real estate meeting myself for over 13 years, I’ve seen my own group attendance diminish from an average of 200 people each week to approximately 50 over the past couple of years. I realize many investors are confused, scared and have lost faith in the real estate investing business and who can blame them? You can’t open a newspaper or turn on the television without hearing anything but negative news about the real estate market. All we hear about is the declining sales prices, lower number of sales, almost no building starts and of course the record number of Foreclosures nationwide. Who can blame investors for shying away from buying houses in this market? Many investors are waiting for the market to bottom out before they are going to get back in the business. There is no better time to be buying houses than NOW, yet many investors are finding it impossible to fund their deals while other investors believe doing Short Sales is their only chance to make money today. This is not true! That kind of thinking is simply crazy! Read More→
